The present invention relates generally to tripod attachments for binoculars, and in particular, to a tripod attachment assembly for attaching to a pair of binoculars that comprises a support assembly, a coupling assembly preferably magnetically coupleable to the support assembly for coupling the binoculars to the support assembly, and a locking assembly for releasably locking the coupling assembly to the support assembly.
Tripod adaptors and attachments for binoculars and other devices are known in the art. One type of conventional tripod adaptor for binoculars includes a fixing screw which can be screwed into a mating receptacle on the tripod to ensure an acceptable coupling of the adaptor to the tripod. The tripod adaptor itself would also be typically threadably coupled to the binoculars. One exemplary embodiment of this type of tripod adaptor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,185.
However, the foregoing embodiment is less than desirable as it does not provide a sufficiently quick decoupling (e.g. release) of the device (or the adaptor) from the tripod itself.
Attempts to overcome such deficiencies have been attempted. One such example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,815. In yet another known example, Published Application Serial No. 2005/0207749 describes a magnetic-based mount for releasably attaching a camera, spotting scope, gun or arm rest.
However, it remains preferable to couple binoculars horizontally rather than vertically (e.g. as contrasted between the illustrations of U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,185 (horizontally mounted binoculars) and Published Application Serial No. 2005/0207749 (vertically mounted camera)). Therefore, more consideration to ensuring against an undesirable, inadvertent or premature decoupling of the binoculars from the tripod attachment is needed, all the while considering the need for a quick release therefrom. For example, magnetically coupling binoculars to a tripod adaptor in combination with a locking assembly to be used therewith would be both desirable and advantageous.
Improvements to the art in other areas are also desirable. For example, a tripod adaptor that can accommodate a larger assortment of binoculars, such as those with large objective lenses (e.g. barrels), is also desirable.
Thus, it is believed that further advances in the art are desirable. For example, it would be desirable and advantageous to provide a tripod attachment for binoculars in which the binoculars are preferably magnetically coupleable to the support assembly and wherein there is a provided a quick release locking assembly for releasably locking the binoculars to and from the tripod. It is thus believed that the present invention overcomes the aforementioned deficiencies and achieves the aforementioned and below mentioned objectives.